Hey, doesn't CBC's Amanda Lang's husband work for Peter Munk?

Could the fact that CBC's Amanda Lang is acting like a complete shill for Jim Flaherty on his income trust fraud have anything to do with the fact that her husband is a senior executive working for Peter Munk and that Peter Munk has spoken on behalf of Flaherty's actions on his income trust "fraud" (although the fraud aspect of Flaherty's trust tax was probably not known to Peter Munk at the time, but that fraud aspect of Flaherty's actions should be abundantly obvious to Amanda Lang today or anyone interested in reporting on the truth, which evidently excludes the CBC), while at the same time Flaherty was taking extraordinary actions to help bail Peter Munk out of Barrick’s ABCP screw up?




Peter Munk on Jim Flaherty:


Globe and Mail

"Hell, I expect politicians to do what they think is right for their country and not do it for the sake of gaining two more points in the popularity contest. For me, and for some people I know, they give him credit for that," says Peter Munk, chairman of Barrick Gold Corp. "Some people take a selfish view, and if you run a big fund and you have been heavily involved in income trusts and, without warning, you lose 8%...you hate the son of a bitch. But to me, that's not the measure you take a finance minister by. You take him by what he does for the country” [ Editor’s note: Or his friends in high places who aren’t prepared to accept the risk inherent in their own actions” see Globe artice below entitled “Flaherty wades into Barrick's CIBC feud” ]


Warren Buffett's views on schmuck insurance for subprime lenders (like Barrick Gold):

Dumb subprime lenders and investors should not get help: Warren Buffett
May 06, 2008, by Jonathan Ratner

At the Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting, company CEO and chairman Warren Buffett said he had enormous respect for a few [investment banks], but that some of the big investment and commercial banks are almost too big to manage. It is harder to see the risk and they’re very hard to manage, he noted.

Mr. Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger agreed that not every business or investment bank should be rescued, because failure is an important part of capitalism.

“Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without hell,” Mr. Buffett said. He added that “lenders and investors who were dumb enough to deal in subprime mortgages should not receive any special help,” but if homeowners were deceived about the terms of an adjustable mortgage, they should be helped.




Jim Flaherty extends schmuck insurance to Peter Munk:

Flaherty wades into Barrick's CIBC feud
Dustup threatens to delay ABCP restructuring


JACQUIE MCNISH
Globe and Mail
May 6, 2008

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has taken the unusual step of intervening in a sideshow spat in the ABCP drama, applying direct pressure on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to settle up with Barrick Gold Corp.

Sources say Mr. Flaherty's phone call to senior CIBC executives last week succeeded in bringing the bank to the table in a festering dispute with its gold miner client.

.....continued